Anaheim Ducks’ Matt Beleskey, left, celebrates his game winning goal with teammate Jakob Silfverberg, of Sweden, during the third period of Game 4 in an NHL hockey second-round playoff series against the Calgary Flames, Friday, May 8, 2015, in Calgary, Alberta. (Jeff McIntosh/The Canadian Press via AP) MANDATORY CREDIT

CALGARY, ALBERTA >> Ducks left wing Patrick Maroon rocketed after a loose puck in the neutral zone with the final seconds ticking down Friday at the Scotiabank Saddledome. He beat a couple of Calgary Flames to it and then outskated teammate Corey Perry.

Maroon sent a deft backhander into the back of an empty net and a dagger into the hearts of the Flames with 37 seconds remaining. The Ducks’ gritty 4-2 victory in Game 4 of the second-round series pushed the Flames to the brink of elimination.

Behind the play, Ducks goaltender Frederik Andersen celebrated a 3-1 series lead with a deep knee bend and then upraised arms. The Ducks can advance to face the Chicago Blackhawks in the Western Conference finals with a victory Sunday over the Flames in Game 5 at the Honda Center.

“Just happy,” Andersen said. “It’s a big win. Everyone knows there’s a big difference between leading 3-1 and 2-2 (in the series). It’s a good step for us. I think we’re always comfortable at home. We’ve just got to play the right way. Once we do that, we’re a good team at home.”

Matt Beleskey’s power-play goal early in the third period gave the Ducks a precarious 3-2 lead, his fourth goal in as many games in the series. Jakob Silfverberg set up Beleskey’s strike after scoring the opening goal of the game in the first period.

“Our power play has been working hard all year,” Beleskey said. “We were creating momentum all game. ‘Silver’ made that nice shot off the pads. I was trying to get open in the slot and I just fired it home. We’ve got to take care of business when they take a penalty like that at the end of a period.”

Beleskey referred to a double-minor for high sticking assessed to the Flames’ Joe Colborne, who bloodied Ducks defenseman Francois Beauchemin at the 20-minute mark of the second period. Beleskey scored 1:11 into the third.

The Ducks then survived a few harrowing moments later in the third while down two men for 56 seconds, after Kyle Palmieri was whistled for hooking and Andrew Cogliano was penalized for holding. The Flames had only one shot on net during the five-on-three, however.

“It was huge,” Beleskey said of the kill. “That was the game right there. We came back. We killed that off. We built momentum from that kill. Our killers did a great job. We executed. Then we came back and got that empty-net goal to seal it.”

Cogliano rallied the Ducks from a 2-1 deficit by scoring at 16:42 of the second period, after first-period goals by Sean Monahan and Micheal Ferland put the Flames ahead 2-1. The Ducks looked vulnerable after Monahan scored only 39 seconds after Silfverberg’s goal.

Andersen rallied after an uncertain start to Game 4. He made a superb glove save to stop Johnny Gaudreau’s point-blank bid, keeping the Ducks within 2-1 in the second period. Andersen made 25 saves and won for the seventh time in eight games to start the playoffs.

“That was Freddie’s turning point for me because he looked shaky in the first period,” Ducks coach Bruce Boudreau said. “I was wondering how he was handling the pressure and then that save he made on Gaudreau, and all of a sudden it was like a calmness came over him.

Elliott Teaford covers the Clippers and the NBA for the Southern California News Group. He has written about hockey for the past five years and is looking forward to thawing out after so many days and nights sitting in frozen rinks. He also covered the Lakers for five seasons, including their back-to-back NBA championships in 2009 and '10. He once made a jump shot over future Utah Jazz center Mark Eaton during a pickup game in 1980 at Cypress College.

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